I See Fire
by alongthedistance
Summary: "The town. The flames. Everything was being incinerated." Submission for Angst Week, day 6: Incinerate.


**A/N: Hi, everyone! We are Sandra (onlywordswithoutsense ) and Sil (myentropicmess ) and this is our submission for day 6 of ft-angst-week . This time, Nalu! With all the END stuff all around there, we wanted to do something both special and different. Given the fact that we have a soft point for future!Natsu and future!Lucy, their tragic story and that "Opening 15″ is one of our favorites, we wanted to pay them a tribute with this oneshot. Also, this fic is related with this other one written by our angst goddess. We want to thank our lovely betas mavis-118 and worshiperofunknownstories for correcting our mistakes and supporting us in this little adventure and also Ed Sheeran (seriously, his music is the OST of this Angst Week) for the song "I See Fire" which inspired us in our moments of writer's block.**

 **Warnings: Violence and blood, but nothing too graphic.**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Fairy Tail Universe or its characters, they belong to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

 _If this is to end in fire_

 _Then we should all burn together_

 _Watch the flames climb high into the night_

(Ed Sheeran - I See Fire)

* * *

The town. The flames. Everything was being incinerated.

At one time all the members of Fairy Tail were celebrating their victory at the Grand Magic Games, and then, suddenly, all was reduced to ashes. How was it possible? What had they done to deserve Hell on Earth?

Lucy Heartfilia tried to stand up, but as strength failed her, she stayed kneeled on the ground. Since the Eclipse Gate got open, thousands of dragons went through it, burning the city down and taking lives, and she couldn't do anything to avoid it. And there she was, alone, looking how the Mercurius castle was falling and wondering if any of her friends were alive.

"Everyone…" she said, as she continued to cry in the middle of her despair. "Natsu…"

All of a sudden, she could hear a growl, the sound of fear and death. Dragons were approaching, burning all around her. Why couldn't she have more time? Why couldn't she go on more adventures with her friends? Why did she had to die? After having those thoughts, Lucy noticed how tears were beginning to fill her eyes again. If only she could go back to the time she was not alone in that incinerated town, too afraid of being burnt to death.

While she was being too lost on her own thoughts, one dragon got too close to Lucy, addressing its flames to her. When she realized what was actually happening, all that she could see was fire. But it wasn't like Natsu's fire, full of that warmth that so many times had made her feel at home. At the contrary, this was a dangerous fire which only brought death and despair. At the moment she accepted her sudden end, certain fire dragon slayer made his appearance making all that fire disappear.

"Sorry I'm late, Lucy," Natsu said. "Bastard…" he continued, addressing the dragon he had before him. "Hey, morons! Quit bein' cocky! I'm a Fairy Tail wizard, Natsu Dragneel! A dragon slayer!"

As the fire dragon slayer made his statement, he jumped to keep fighting against the dragons putting all his strength on that task. While seeing that scene, Lucy realized that even if all the odds were against them, Natsu wasn't going to give up. However, that was the first time she didn't find his actions reassuring. That battle was lost long before it had started, and nothing in this world could make her think otherwise.

"Natsu!" she cried while tears began to run down from her eyes. "It's impossible!"

"Not hardly! I'm still going strong!" he replied, breathing fire against the dragons around him.

Without any warning, a dragon attacked Natsu making him fall from the dragon he was standing beforehand.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted in despair.

"I ain't givin' up, no matter what," the fire dragon slayer said. "I ain't gonna run away… Or go back… This ain't over!"

After saying that, Natsu jumped again to come back to his own battle against the dragons, risking his life for something that was already lost. Why couldn't they surrender and run away to live their lives? She was tired. Tired to see people dying in front of her. And she didn't want to lose Natsu too.

"Natsu!" she cried.

* * *

However, he wasn't listening to her voice. Lucy felt desperate. What could she do? Even if she wanted to come closer to Natsu, her legs weren't going to move. She took a look around and her teardrops couldn't stop. All that surrounded them were fire, despair and concern. It was true: they hadn't any chance of winning. The blonde girl, crying, was lost in her thoughts and she didn't even realize how dangerous the situation was until she felt an awful pain in her right arm.

"Oh, god!" she cried falling to the ground. All that Lucy could feel was the shocking pain while her eyes were clouding.

Natsu turned around just to see Lucy falling. He saw her body covered in blood and his eyes opened with surprise. "What the hell has happened?" he whispered, but the boy didn't have time to figure it out. Natsu was so worried that he didn't see one dragon coming after him and, before he realized, the monster was giving him a punch that made the dragon slayer fall to the ground.

Surrounded by rocks and dust, he coughed a lot while trying to get up. However, his mind was full of thoughts that were making him feel afraid. Lucy. The blood. A scream. She was lying on the floor and her condition seemed bad…

"Lucy!" he shouted while dragging along the ground. Making a big effort, Natsu got up and started to run towards where she was. "I'm coming!"

When he finally reached Lucy's side, his heart was beating so fast that he couldn't even breathe normally. The dragon slayer kneeled down and put Lucy's head in her lap. He didn't realize where the blood was coming from or what actually had happened, because all he wanted was to make her react. The girl seemed to be slept, but Natsu knew that the reality was different: she had fainted and he needed to make her open her eyes at any cost.

"Lucy, wake up," Natsu begged at the same time he was caressing her cheeks. "Tell me you're okay..."

He was so lost that he didn't know how to act. Trying to think clearly, the dragon slayer looked for the origin of the blood loss and, when he finally found it, the guy clenched his fists full of rage. Lucy had lost an arm. He had not been able to protect her as he should have done. She trusted him, but the fire dragon slayer had failed her. All that ideas crossed his mind while Natsu was trying to find a way to stop the blood loss.

All of a sudden, he felt how the blonde girl shifted between his arms. He didn't expect that she would wake up so fast. She probably was suffering from unbearable pain, and he hated to see her like that. He hated being on that kind of situations and not being able to reassure her. As the fire dragon slayer was retiring some rebel locks that were covering her eyes, he saw her making a painful gesture and blinking repeatedly until she finally opened her eyes.

"Natsu…" she said with a broken voice before looking at her surroundings. "Something has happened to my arm… I can't feel my fingers… It hurts so much…"

"It's okay. I'm here with you," he softly whispered while, once more, he caressed her cheeks, this time trying to reassure her. "But we need to hurry... The blood loss isn't going to stop… And your arm is gone, Lucy…" the dragon slayer said desperately in anguish, because inside he was completely destroyed, as he felt how tears filled his eyes without overflowing them. "I need to cauterize the wound so you don't lose any more blood… I need to hurt you in order to save your life… I'm... I'm so sorry, Lucy..."

He looked at her in the eye and all he could see was confidence. She trusted him with her whole life, whether he was right or not. And then, Lucy smiled. It was a sweet, pretty and adorable smile marked by the pain she was feeling. Before that, he wasn't sure if he was going to have the courage to do it, to harm her, even if he knew that he was doing it to save her life. But in that exact moment he knew that he wanted to see her smile again. That smile that put light in his moments of darkness. That smile that encouraged him in the moments when he doubted himself. He didn't want to lose that and, above all, he didn't want to lose her. And Natsu would do anything to save Lucy's life, even if he had to harm her to see that view again.

"I… I trust… you," was the only thing she could say to him while closing her eyes again. "Do what… needs to be done…"

After he heard those last words, he lit his fist on fire. But this time he wasn't going to use his flames to defeat his enemy. This time he was going to be the cause of her pain, and he didn't know if he was going to be able to handle it. He didn't want to be there, debating himself between harming his best friend or letting her die. They should have been celebrating their victory in their hometown with their friends and having more adventures together. But, above all, she shouldn't have been there, on his own lap, suffering from blood loss and that terrible injury. While he was having those thoughts, he didn't notice that she was weakly caressing his arm with her left hand.

"It's okay…" she whispered as she rubbed his arm to encourage him. "Don't… Don't punish yourself for this… For all of this…" Lucy said in a voice that, if he hadn't enhanced hearing, he wouldn't be able to distinguish. "It's not your fault… Do it…"

As she ended that sentence, Natsu approached his fired hands to the remains from her right arm. And, surprisingly, it wasn't as he expected. It was way worse.

Her cries from the unbearable pain. The burnt skin. The overwhelming smell. And above all, her pale skin.

That situation was tearing him up from the inside. But even if he wanted to stop, he couldn't. Not if he wanted to save her.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" he whispered as he felt tears sliding down his cheeks and all his body trembling.

But in that terrible situation, he remembered. He remembered how many times Lucy had to endure unpleasant situations to save her friends. Even some moments ago, when she had agreed to suffer that unbearable pain to save her life, she had showed him her courage. She was a strong girl, after all. And now he had to be strong for the two of them. He had to, if he wanted to see that beautiful smile again. It didn't matter how much he would be suffering because Natsu was doing all of that for her, for that blonde, sweet girl who so many times had helped him to be the person he should be.

Time passed and, suddenly, silence fell. He wasn't hearing those awful cries, but that didn't make him feel any better. How was he going to look at her eyes after making her pass for that excruciating pain? He saved her life, but at such a big cost. With his eyes closed, Natsu tried to breathe for a while… What if what he had done didn't work at all? What if she was never able to fight that battle? She was the only one who could go against her own awareness.

Once he felt that the injury wasn't bleeding, he removed his hands. After that, he looked at the sky: the dragons were approaching and they were in such an exposed area. He needed to put Lucy in a safe place, because she had suffered enough. But he didn't even had time to think about it due to a big yell who came from one dragon. That monster was moving so fast that if they didn't go, it was going to catch them.

"Natsu…" Lucy whispered, opening her eyes for a while. "Don't leave me… Please…"

"Look, shorty! Lucy is right there with Salamander!" Both of them recognized the voice as soon as the scream crossed the air and reached them.

"Gajeel… Levy…" Lucy said trying to get up, but the fire dragon slayer didn't let her.

"No. You can't move," he answered. "They're coming. We'll be okay."

But as he said those words, something happened. He could feel an explosion of fire coming from the damn dragon, a new one that was going to consume the city. And something even worse.

Natsu turn his head just to see how Gajeel was protecting Levy with his body. He saw the iron dragon slayer screaming, but the boy couldn't hear what he was saying. And then, the explosion catched them. He tried to yell something, but he was just there, beside Lucy, with his mouth opened and his hands trembling. Even though he thought that Lucy couldn't see anything, Natsu didn't realize she was taking a look and, when she saw what was happening, tears started to slide down her cheeks without any possible stop.

"Levy… Gajeel… Are they... dead?" she whispered.

The only thing they could hear was Levy's voice yelling Gajeel's name, and then their hearts broke a little more. When they looked again, Levy was fainting surrounded by blood, wood, rocks and devastation.

"Levy… is she okay? Natsu…" Lucy tried to keep her eyes open, but the pain and the tears were not helping her. "Are they okay?" She was completely desperate.

Natsu realized, for the first time since the battle had begun, that he needed to make Lucy go far from that horrible place. She couldn't handle the loss of more friends, above all if they died in front of her eyes. So, although he wanted to run, scream and kill all the dragons with his fire, the dragon slayer maintained the calm, picked Lucy on her arms with caress and addressed her to the ruins of a house in order to protect themselves until she could at least stand up. Then, he would look how Levy and Gajeel were and they could make a plan, even though he had the feeling that he was going to receive bad news. Natsu knew that it was impossible for them to come home but, even if he had to sacrifice himself, he had to save the celestial mage. She didn't deserve to die in that terrible situation. Not her.

As they arrived to those ruins, Natsu lay softly Lucy on the floor of what, in past times, was the living room of the house. The fire dragon slayer took a look on her right arm, because he was worried that while holding the blonde girl, the wound had opened or even worse, that it had started to bleed again. Fortunately, all seemed to be okay and he breathed quite a bit. He was so relieved even though he was also so angry.

While he was too lost in his own thoughts, he didn't notice at first that Lucy had sat up and was resting her back against of what seemed to be an armchair as she was crying and absently looking at the scene before them through the remains of a wall.

"It's impossible…" Lucy whispered as she hid her face in her legs. "We… We are not going to make it…"

Hearing those words, he realized that that was not the moment to think, but to act. And above all, not to break down or surrender to despair: he would have plenty of time to think about those things and heal his emotional wounds if they achieved to get out of that situation. Now he had to be strong for both of them. He had to bring back her hopes and her will to live.

"Lucy…" he said in a soft voice as he brushed her hair with his hand. "Lucy… Look at me…"

"Natsu… We're going to die… There's nothing to be done…" she replied with a horrified expression, tears sliding down her cheeks like thin rivers. Then, she turned her face to look at him. "All our friends may be dead…"

"Lucy…" Natsu replied while holding her left hand and caressing it. "How many times had we fought even if all the odds were against us? The moment you doubt yourself, that's the right moment you lose a battle. Even if we only have a small possibility to have a bright future, we have to try and fight for it."

"That's only you being reckless, because you hate losing. There are battles we have to surrender and accept our defeat… This is one of them…" Lucy said looking at the ground. "I don't know how you can be so positive in this whole situation…"

"Because I have hope." Natsu added, putting himself on his knees and closing the distance between their faces. "Because I believe in us." The fire dragon slayer touched her forehead with his as he was caressing her hair with his hand. "And because I want to share that small possibility with you. I want to fight for that bright future in which we will have more adventures together. Don't you want all of that, Lucy?"

"Yes, but…"

"Have a little faith on us… Let me show you… Just… Give it a try, Lucy… Please."

Lucy looked at him with watery eyes. Even if, in that moment, she wished that nightmare to end as soon as possible, she thought on Natsu's words. That was a difficult battle, almost impossible to win, but she also trusted him. She always did. How many times did he do the most incredible things just for a better tomorrow? How many times did he helped her when she wasn't able to see the bright among all the darkness? He did a lot for her, and she wasn't going to let him fight alone. Not after all the occasions he had trusted her. Not after saving her life so many times. She owed him that.

"Yes…" Lucy whispered in a watery voice as she approached her body to his, hiding her face on the crook of his neck and embracing him with her left arm and the remains of her right one. "But together. Don't leave me alone…"

"I wouldn't do that…" Natsu said, rubbing her back with his hand. "Weirdo…"

"Look who's talking…" For the first time in that fateful day, Lucy had a soft smile on her face wet by teardrops. "The one that talks about bright futures while we could be burnt alive at any moment…"

"Have a little faith on me," he replied, rolling his eyes and caressing her hair. Then, he stood up while saying, "Well, I'm going to bring Levy and Gajeel here with me. They are certainly okay."

However, nothing went as expected. After a few minutes, Natsu came back bringing an unconscious Levy with him, but Lucy quickly realized that Gajeel wasn't there. The iron dragon slayer had not come with them, and the blonde girl felt chills going down her back. Levy's face was wet because of the teardrops she had spilled, but also due to the blood that seemed to had stopped coming out from the wound on her forehead. She was holding one of Gajeel's fingerless gloves. Moreover, Natsu's face was terrible: he appeared to be so angry that he could destroy everything in his path, and also his look seemed lost.

"Natsu?" she asked, approaching to the body of the girl that Natsu had left close to her. "Where… is Gajeel?" But he didn't even answer. He was completely lost in his thoughts.

The fire dragon slayer had saw what really had happened to Gajeel and Levy, and he was just about to explode. It really pained to him not saying his last goodbye to the person who was one of his closest friends, so he clenched his fists with rage. Gajeel had so much adventures yet to live and they had promised to look for their adoptive parents and dragons together. But, at that moment, it was the first time that Natsu Dragneel didn't want to know anything about dragons. They had destroyed all they'd had and crushed their hopes. _"Where are you now, Igneel? What should I do…?"_ he thought as he looked at the red sky through the broken roof unable to stem the tears that ran down his cheeks. He was angry. He only wished to save all his friends, but he knew it was too late for some of them. And Natsu had no time to think about their dead friend or his missing adoptive father, because he was going to kill all the damn dragons that were hurting his friends and make the calm come back again to Fiore.

"Natsu…" Lucy cried, desperate. "Gajeel…"

"I'm sorry, Lucy," he finally said returning to the reality and looking at her. "I'm going to kill them all. I'm going to kick their asses. This is our revenge for Gajeel, Happy and all the people they have hurt." The fire dragon slayer looked at the ruins of the town. "Wait for me, because we need to leave together, Lucy." The guy dedicated her a big smile, just like all the smiles he had given to her. He had enough confidence to win. "I'm all fired up!"

Punching his fist against his open hand. His cheeks being red because he had been crying. His smell. Lucy could feel his essence in all of it and, as soon as Natsu went away to fight, she wished that she had stopped him. It didn't matter how much confidence he had, because she knew there was nothing they could do to win that stupid fight. It was a lost battle. Gajeel had died, and Lucy was sure that other guild members had passed away too. Nothing was okay. All was a disaster. She was part of a destroyed world that would never be as it was before.

Then, the blonde girl realized that she was going to lose the only person who had stayed by her side since she had been able to join the guild. And she had not told him anything about her true feelings. She had not told Natsu how much she cared about him and the important meaning his existence had in her whole life. She hadn't thank him enough times for saving her life, not only on the battles they'd fought together, but also that first time in Hargeon, when they met each other and, from that moment, loneliness didn't haunt her anymore. And now their future was going to be incinerated, reduced to ashes, making her come back to those past days of emptiness.

"Natsu!" she screamed completely in pain, but the fire dragon slayer couldn't hear her desperate voice while confronting those damn dragons. "Don't leave me alone," she added, softly. "Don't leave me!" she cried again.

However, he couldn't hear anything. He was giving and receiving hits because their lives depended on it. Natsu was only thinking about protecting Lucy's life, and she just wanted him to be by her side. Both of them wished things which they knew they couldn't have, and it was so hard that it was breaking their hearts in pieces. And all of a sudden, it all happened. She became one with tears, pain and her tragic cry.

She had saw it. She was looking when the dragons, all together, surrounded Natsu just to hit him over and over again. He was bleeding, he had no strength and he couldn't even stay on his feet. The dragon slayer tried not to give up, but it was too late. The monsters were going to finish him, and the only thing he regretted the most was that he had not said a proper goodbye to his friends. He had no chance to say goodbye to Happy, or Gajeel, or even to that bastard ice mage… and above all, he regretted that he had returned the hope to Lucy's heart just to take it away again.

 _"She is probably crying now… Forgive me for not keeping my promise, Lucy,"_ he thought. And it was the last thing he had in mind before the dragons killed him with just one more hit.

Lucy had been looking the whole time. She touched her cauterized arm with shocked eyes. Natsu. The incredible fire dragon slayer who had always won all the battles he had faced, was dead. She couldn't even help him. She had not even called his name.

The whole world could become Hell. She was leaving one.

"You told me to wait for you… Now, what am I supposed to do?" Lucy cried hitting the ground.

And then, silence came to her heart. She touched Levy's hand, but she didn't feel anything but sorrow. Lucy was devastated as all that surrounded her.

The town. The flames. Everything was being incinerated, including her love


End file.
